"Living Lens"

Thrill Jockey

Artists:

The best Mountains songs use simple means to achieve complex effects. Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp have been known to pile up layers of acoustic and electronic sound until their pieces actually become the sonic equivalent of their band name. But those thick walls of ambience often start with basic building blocks. As the music gets bigger and denser, the initial simplicity persists, keeping things grounded when they could get too grandiose.

That's the case with "Living Lens," the final track on Mountains' forthcoming album (and third for Thrill Jockey), Centralia. It opens with a sparse guitar loop, adds electronic ripples and fluttering synths, then gradually melts all those individual sounds into one solid, rolling drone. Once that drone has taken hold, you can't actually hear the elemental opening notes anymore. But you also can't escape the sense that they're drifting just below the surface, driving the rest of "Living Lens" forward like a small car supporting a huge parade float.